I guess Croatia is developing very fast.
How many inhabitants have Rijeka?

About 250,000. Its the 3rd largest in Croatia. Its the deepest port in the Adriatic Sea and it handles much of the shipping requirements of Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, etc. A lot of construction here is commercially based and its level of activity is second to the capital of Zagreb which has a population of around 1.1 million. Newly completed motorways that now link Zagreb with many of the coastal cities has sparked a lot of projects inc Rijeka, Split, Zadar, Dubrovnik, etc.

Since the foundation of the Port of Rijeka Authority, and with the aim of effecting the established policies, several studies have been drawn by expert teams regarding the developmental possibilities of the port. These studies were also used during the making of the ten years development plan of the port of Rijeka, as well as in the two years developmental plans. The urgency with which these plans had to be made implied the necessity to stop the decrease of the port’s turnover, as well as the creation of conditions for a more effective port activity.

The World Bank and the Port of Rijeka Authority have accepted the proposal of the consultancy firm Rotterdam Maritime Group, The Netherlands, which has drawn up the Study of the Modernization of the Port of Rijeka.

On July 12th 2003 the agreement was signed by which the World Bank granted to the Government of the Republic of Croatia a loan of 155 million US dollars. Of exceptional importance are the projects regarding the modernization of existing and the expansion of new terminals, but for the town of Rijeka the waterfront project is of primary importance. This project implies the opening of the central part of the port area for commercial purposes, and the access of citizens to that part of the coastal area. It implies also that the passenger terminal, the southern part of Delta and the port ‘Porto Baroš’ will have completely different spatial and territorial plans with the aim of giving access to these parts of town to all the citizens thus creating new, attractive town spaces typical of Mediterranean towns.

This year the drawing of the project for a fishing ships’ port in the Torpedo area has begun. In the process of making is the project for the recovery and the extension of the breakwater, and for the deepening of the draft in the small port. The Port Authority and the town of Rijeka have become co-owners of most buildings around the Torpedo port. With this project the lack of space for fishing ships, due to the construction of the passenger terminal, will be solved. The project also comprises the idea of a fish exchange and all other adjoining services (shops, bars) together with the fishing port. Examples throughout the world show that fishing ports are important segments of harbor towns that cultivate their fishing traditions, but also create an attractive town center offering to citizens and tourists various attractions. This project aims to stimulate entrepreneurs to render additional and catering services inside the fishing port. In an economic sense, the project will give a new impetus to the fishing industry, which was greatly neglected.

The project of modernization of the port of Rijeka and of the road network is a very complex one. It is planned, besides modernizing and restructuring the port, to encompass with the project the construction of the east wing of the Rijeka roundabout, from Orehovica to Križišće, of the connecting roads Draga – Brajdica and Čavle - Križišće and the reconstruction of the bridge coast – island of Krk. With all this Rijeka, as well as the broader region, will have a qualitative connection to the highway Rijeka - Zagreb - Budapest, which is part of European traffic corridors. Such an envisaged project should solve the greatest problems of the Rijeka road junction.

PROJECT'S IMPLEMENTATION STAGES

Western part of the port of Rijeka – Zagreb wharf

By creating new areas in the Rijeka basin, by demolishing the old nonfunctional warehouses, as well as by building the new wharf, the realization of the project of a gradual relocation of the cargo part of the port, from today’s inadequate locations to the newly prepared areas in the western part of the port, will begin.

In the western part of the Rijeka basin, the building of a new multipurpose terminal (containers, timber, general cargo) is envisaged. The Rijeka Gateway Project plans the financing and the building of the first 250m, of the overall 600 m of new wharf. By building the remaining 600 m, at the end the wharf will be 1.200 m long and it will dispose with 300,000 m2 of new areas.

The wharf will be built on pillars and the sea depth along the wharf will be more than 20 m. The financing and the construction of the part of wharf not covered by the World Bank’s loan will be based on a BOT (build, operate, transfer) contract.

For the new wharf to be adequately connected with the Rijeka roundabout, i.e. with the main traffic routes leading towards Zagreb, Ljubljana and Dalmatia, the construction of a new connecting road is planned (the road D - 403 1.9 km long).

The warehouses in the western part of the harbor are no longer adequate for the storing of goods, and since the area of the commercial port has no possibility of expansion, to be competitive with other North-Adriatic ports, these warehouses are going to be demolished and instead new warehouses are going to be built which are more suited to the needs of storing cargoes. Because of their cultural heritage value, the warehouses no.12 and 17 will be kept and reconstructed.

Passenger terminal (Central port - port Baroš - Delta)

With this part of the project, the reconstruction of 17 hectares of land is planned upon which currently there are different port activities, warehouses and parking lots.

The project comprises the construction of:

a modern ferry terminal to be built along the existing passenger wharf on a part of the Rijeka breakwater, with the concomitant buildings on the Senj quayside;

a passenger wharf;

a nautical center – marina;

different commercial and cultural-entertainment centers;

roads connecting the port with the Rijeka roundabout;

The project plans the building of a new road (D-404 4.4 km long) across the area of Brajdica, which will connect the container terminal and the Sušak basin with the Rijeka roundabout, i.e. with the main traffic routes leading towards Zagreb, Ljubljana and Dalmatia.

This project intends to convert part of the commercial port into a passenger port, because of inadequate conditions of transshipment on the existing locations. For the realization of this part of the project, some types of cargo which is being manipulated in the central part of the port (timber and bulk cargo) have to be moved to specialized terminals. The bulk cargo will be transferred to Bakar - terminal for bulk cargo, and the timber to the western part of the port were a multipurpose terminal will be built – the Zagreb wharf.
With the implementation of this part of the project, Rijeka will regain the image of a maritime and Mediterranean town.

Rijeka, 20th September 2004
A three-day manifestation marking the 90th anniversary of “Češka Beseda” in Rijeka and the 10th anniversary of its resumption, ended on Sunday 19th of September with the laying of the foundation stone for the future Czech Cultural Centre in Ćićarijska road in Hosti.

In the presence of numerous guests among who were also Dr. Petr Buriánek, Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Croatia, members of Croatian parliament and representatives of ethnic minorities that live in the area of Rijeka, the City of Rijeka Mayor, Mr. Vojko Obersnel, laid the foundation stone for the future Czech Cultural Centre.

Beside the foundation stone, Mrs. Fanika Ghusak, president of “Češka Beseda” Rijeka, laid the document written in Croatian and in Czech with the date of the foundation stone laying and a short text about the this ceremony and its participants.

The land for the building of the Czech Cultural centre was bought from the City of Rijeka in the March of 2001. Architect Patrizia Tricoli has made the project documentation. The Czech Cultural Home will have about 1,100 square meters, consisting of basement, ground floor and one storey. “Češka Beseda” Rijeka will have its headquarters in it. The building will have a small catering facility, rooms for accommodating guest ensembles and companies, as well as an auditorium and a stage for cultural and other programmes.

The estimated amount for the building and its interior decoration is around 9 million Kuna. The works should be done in two phases. In the first phase that should be completed in the year 2005, the whole of the building will be constructed. The second phase will take care of the interior decoration of the building and the surrounding landscaping.

The building of this Centre is financially supported by the City of Rijeka, the Primorje-Gorski kotar County, the Ethnic Minorities Office of the Republic of Croatia, the Czech Republic and numerous friends from the Czech Republic who have already given their donations, be it financial, for the acquisition of the land, be it in construction material for the works on the Centre. The Czech city of Ostrava has already donated construction iron, while Češke Budjeovice donated timber.

Good new from Rijeka!
Prime minister Ivo Sanader yesteday finally signed contract about loan for construction of new University Campus in Trsat district, Rijeka.
Total investment: 490 million kunas.
Campus will be finished in 2011.

Rijeka city council is planning a number of new stations (purple) on the existing rail corridors, hence forming a suburban rail network for the city. Part of the line passes underground. In addition to upgrades of major highways and motorways passing in and around the city .....

I think a couple of we whinging before about the crappy bus station in Rijeka city centre which was way too small. Anyway, the city government is finalising planning for its replacement .....

Rijeka really needs new bus station. The current one is really crap, actualy there is no station building, only few platforms, with a lot of people, buses, cars, very small and ugly. Rijeka deserves better and I am glad to see this project, I hope it is going to be realized very soon.

It looks like Rijeka will become the shopping mecca in our part of Europe. This is the third huge shopping centre released for construction in this city thereby giving it more of an edge over Zagreb which is a bigger city.

A project underway in the heart of central Rijeka which involves the construction of an 850 underground parking station which in turn is covered over by a pedestrian mall flagged by a series of buildings on either side.

The first 3 levels of the various buildings include retail at street level, followed by office in the first and second floors, capped by residential floors on top of this.

Ground floor retail/commercial area is 3.304 m2, and offices area is 8.720 m2. Total built area of the complex is 18.300 m2, 43.000 m2 with the garage.

BTW Bubach, that new shopping complex you announced is being built by Maurizio Zamparini who owns Palermo Football Club, he used to own Venezia soccer club previously. He has other projects in Zagreb, Osijek & Split.

@Sincity, they still didn't start constuction of new museum in Rijeka.

2 years ago when this design was chosen there were many discution in Croatia about those 2 museums (Zagreb and Rijeka) and who should get it first and when construction in Zagreb started before Rijeka, people said "not again, everything is being built in Zagreb, nothing in Rijeka". People actualy expect that Croatian Government shoud build everithing in their cities: museums, schools, streets etc, but at the same time they want more decentralization...
You can't believe how strong is antagonism between Zagreb and provinces.